Red Black & Gold Japanese Oriental Inspired Wedding

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WWW readers Emily and Oliver married on the 8th February 2014 at Dodmoor House in Northamptonshire. They wanted to create a red, black and gold oriental inspired wedding day. It was important to them to have great food; their menu sounded scrumptious and I love the donut wedding cake stack... YUM.

There were paper flowers, origami, parasols hanging from the ceiling and pretty fairy lights.

Emily looked gorgeous in her Stephanie Allin lace dress which she teamed with a Lily Bella birdcage veil and Rachel Simpson shoes. Perfect.

Thanks so much to Elliot W Patching for sharing his lovely images today.

THE PROPOSAL | After our first date, Oliver walked me back to the car via a little bridge over the meadow in Stamford. We stood on the bridge briefly and I always thought he should have taken the chance to kiss me! 5 years later we walked over the same bridge on our way for an unexpected (for me) evening out. Not missing his chance this time, he went down on one knee and produced a beautiful ring. My reply was yes of course, but only after "What on earth are you doing?!!!"

THE VISION | I wanted a Winter wedding partly as my complexion doesn't fair too well in the heat! I also thought an out of season wedding had that potential for that warm cosy feeling with candles and fairy lights inside when the weather's bad outside. Having it in February took away that worry of wanting sunshine, as we knew it wouldn't be!

We agreed on a Japanese, Oriental theme with pretty paper details. Our colour set consisted of red, black and gold with strings of paper origami cranes hanging down form the ceiling and beautiful paper parasols as ceiling features. I also envisaged paper origami flowers as opposed to fresh ones as something a little different. We wanted our kind of food to be served. Cool canapés; soup shots, mini sausage & mash and nacho spoons. Served with the canapés was retro mulled cider and apple juice to beat the cold! Our menu consisted of smoked salmon with potato rosti & crème fraiche or black pudding and bacon salad starters, a trio of burgers with triple cooked chips and decadent chocolate brownie to finish. The evening food was a ploughman's style buffet with krispy kreme donuts and a fruitcake made by my mum!

THE PLANNING PROCESS | We put the big elements in first; you can't go too far wrong as long as you've got a venue, a dress and a registrar! That was probably with a year or so to go. After that, planning pages from wedding magazines really helped to check everything off the list at the right time. We set about writing invitations and making the details in plenty of time. Having the wedding at this time of year also made it easier to get in demand suppliers like my make up artist, hair stylist and caterer.

BUDGET | We had probably half saved ourselves and then relied on very kind help from both our families. I think we stuck to it just about, though it was surprising how much these things cost once you get started! It really helped to make some of the details ourselves with family chipping in to assist.

THE VENUE | We visited about 8 to 10 locations before we found our perfect venue. We weren't fussed about having a local connection to the place, just wanted somewhere that suited us. Having visited Dodmoor House, Northants for an open evening, we knew we loved it straight away. It had a warm friendly atmosphere and we loved the rural barn feel. On the way back, our first dance song came on the radio, which we took as a sign it was meant to be!

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | I wanted a slightly vintage feel to my look on the day. I fell in love with the lace detail and satin blush undertones on my "Sunset" dress by Stephanie Allin. "Carmen" shoes from Rachel Simpson were a perfect colour match and kept with the theme. I chose a birdcage veil and hairpin to add an air of mystery and complete the look.

FINDING THE DRESS | I had my heart set on a dress with sleeves initially but surprised myself with something strapless. I visited several boutiques in my local area before finding the One. I loved the rose undertones to the dress I found, I loved the detail at the knee and the antiquey feel.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | I had visions of a Daniel Craig as James Bond style grey suit for the Groom. He's not really a top hat and tails kind of a guy! We tried some darker suits but needed something that suited his frame and didn't make him look like a bouncer! He and his best man really surprised me coming back with the perfect suit unsupervised! Black ties and paper flowers matching my bouquet completed the outfit and tied in nicely with the theme.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We wanted to keep the ceremony short and sweet so only had one reading read by one of the bridesmaids. I chose "We're all a little weird..." by Dr Seuss as I felt it reflected our personalities! My entrance music was an instrumental version of Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons, a band we saw live together when we were first dating. Followed by some Sting and Elton John as we were signing the register!

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | My two oldest friends from school, Claire and Anna were my bridesmaids. Anna and I had been Claire's maids 18 months before and it felt right to return the favour. Along with Oliver's sister Chloe, they made a wonderful trio! After a lot of searching, I found some beautiful long red dresses with sequin and beading detail from Virgos Lounge. They fitted the colour scheme perfectly and offered a little more coverage for the weather.

THE FLOWERS | My paper bouquet was made up of origami kusudama flowers by the wonderful Ribbons & Tulle. She even managed to replicate the design of my Paperchase invitations on some of the petals. Little touches of glitter and beads made it sparkle. The bridesmaids' bouquets were keenly replicated in similar fashion by one of the bridesmaids. A labour of love! The male contingent of the wedding party had their buttonholes made from paper flowers too.

THE CAKE | What else but donuts?! Several dozen delicious donuts were delivered to the venue by Krispy Kreme, which certainly kept the guests happy! We showed them off on a 7-tiered stand. For traditionalists, my mum made us a fruitcake, iced in red to match the theme and decorated with paper flowers.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | We found Elliott Patching after a lot of internet research. Whilst I loved the contemporary style of many photographers, I wanted something that would look current but wouldn't date quickly.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | An Oriental theme was my goal in terms of décor. Family kindly helped out making strings of origami paper cranes from authentic Japanese washi paper sourced from the internet. We hung them with beads to weight them down. The theme was continued in the paper kusudama bouquets, which echoed the pattern of my Paperchase invitations. Along the aisle, origami paper hearts lined my path to the ceremony table. We adorned the tables with paper mache vases filled with locally sourced twigs. We hung red lanterns and more paper cranes from the twigs. The tables were scattered with tiny origami stars and paper cocktail umbrellas in different colours indicated the guests' food choices. I managed to find large paper parasols, which looked amazing, hung from the ceiling of the barn, In addition to this, we filled every available space with red lanterns, candles and fairy lights. The introduction of sparklers in the evening delighted the guests and made for some lovely photos.

THE HONEYMOON | Straight after the wedding we took ourselves off for a 'minimoon' in Edinburgh. 3 days of good food and culture in the brisk Scottish sunshine was right up our street.

Two months later came the real deal. We planned an American road trip, complete with bright orange Dodge Charger (Olly's idea I must admit!). Our first stop was a few days in gorgeous San Francisco seeing all the sites. We then picked up the Dodge and travelled to the beautiful Yosemite national park, where we spent our time walking and taking in the amazing scenery. From there, we took the Pacific Highway, stopping in three locations along the coast. After a brief detour along Route 66, we headed to our final destination Las Vegas. Our travel agent had organised the most amazing corner suite at the Aria, the most amazing hotel we've ever stayed in! Pure luxury crazy Vegas style! Our first day comprised of a visit to a shooting range, then a trip to the spa for me whilst Olly headed back for some more firepower! We took in all the sites, including a Cirque du Soleil show. A perfect way to end our honeymoon! Can't wait to go back!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | I think walking down the aisle with my Dad and seeing Olly there in his suit for the first time. Why should I be so nervous to see the person I'd known so long! I loved our first dance too, somewhat nerve wracking but super romantic!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Accept that the day will go quickly and make the most of it. We worked out that we had less than 5 minutes to spend talking to each guest and afterwards I felt worried that I hadn't gotten to speak to everyone enough. Don't be afraid to slow things down and give yourselves a moment to take it all in. You'll spend a lot of time on the details and getting everything just so. But actually, people don't always notice the little things. As long as people get to see the happy couple, have plenty to eat and drink and some tunes to dance to, they'll be happy!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Venue | Dodmoor House, Northants

Caterers | Lemon Zest

Bridal boutique | The Stamford Bridal Rooms (Wedding dress - 'Sunset' by Stephanie Allin)

Wedding shoes | 'Carmen' by Rachel Simpson

Birdcage veil | Lily Bella

Make Up Artist | Chloe McCall

Hair stylist | Helena Sinclair

Photographer | Elliot W Patching

Origami paper flowers | Ribbons & Tulle

Cake | Krispy Kreme

Travel Agent | More Than Travel